Standing between Statehood and Annihilation

Births are messy things. One percent of Jewish soldiers will be dead
before this is over. One day it will be considered a fair trade. For
now, untrained men step off the boat, grab a rifle and march off to face
one of the fiercest types of Darwinian selection... war. For centuries
Jews have been forbidden firearms. These skills and many more will have
to be learned while under fire. But they have already undergone the most
rigorous of Darwinian selections under the Nazis. "The best of us did
not return," as Dr. Frankl said. By "best" he means "kindest". Those
selfless souls who gave away their last crust of bread are dead now.
What is left will do whatever it takes to survive because they already
have. Most Jews are under military discipline, but there are smaller,
independent groups that are terrorists, plain and simple. They are
shooting Englishmen on sight, so the British forces are pulling out. Now
it is Jew against Arab. It is probably better this way, however it
turns out. But we are from the future. We know how it turns out, and how
it will continue. [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]

My Take by Alex ShruggedOK.
What about the Arabs? What's their gripe? They have been getting hosed
by the British, the French and the Italians for a good long time. Now
the Russians want some of the action, so from the Arab perspective
(setting aside any religious disagreements or antisemitism) the Jews
look like just one more group of westerners trying to take all the land
from the Arabs. Sure. They could make room, but why should they? Now
insert any religious disagreements and outright antisemitism and you can
see why the Arabs have their backs up. The USA has been trying to
balance the principles of liberty with support for their World War 2
Allies, but they are all colonialists! And if the USA supported Arab
independence, what should they do with the Jews? Forcing the Jews out of
their Biblical homeland at the point of a bayonet looks bad in
God-fearin' America, son! There were no good answers, so people picked
the least bad ones and moved forward. (FYI, Alex Shrugged is Jewish and
supports the State of Israel while acknowledging the many injustices
that followed in the wake of its creation.)

A Wall between Church and State

The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state. That wall must be kept high and impregnable.

In the aftermath of World War 2, the Churches are remembering how
Hitler subverted their institutions with promises to protect "The True
Church" from godless communism. Now the Churches are rethinking their
relationship with the state. In this environment, a series of challenges
to state support of religious institutions have come up. Last year in Everson v. Board of Education,
Justice Hugo Black ruled that a separation between church and state
must be nearly absolute. Now Justice Black must rule on whether a school
district can set aside TIME AND SPACE for voluntary religious
instruction. This is called release-time. Currently 1.5 million students
attend weekly religious sessions on school grounds. In McCollum v. Board of Education,
the school is picking the religious instructors and coaxing young James
McCollum to choose one of the three religions. I know there are more
than three religions and that's the point. Isn't it? The release-time
program must undergo radical change. [13][14][15]

My Take by Alex ShruggedThe
Baptists supported the ruling. I assume they were one of the religions
being shut out by school officials. My experience with "release time"
is unhappy. Hugo Black's ruling became a prohibition of any religious
group renting a school room. They had to park a trailer on the street,
and only the larger denominations could afford to do that. So why have
religious instruction available at all? Students should understand what
religion is even if their parents do not ascribe to a religion. I am
Jewish, but I have studied Christianity. I know its value and its
issues. I know Judaism's issues as well. We all have our complaints, but
without an education in the basics, how can I hope to understand what
is best for me? For an informed decision, I need to know what I am
deciding about. Having the state decide that I don't need to know about
ANY religion is itself coercive, and frankly, makes the state my only
god by default. Telling me that it is my own responsibility is
insufficient. It's like telling me that the school will teach reading
and writing, but math is my responsibility. I'm not expecting
calculus... just some basics so I can balance my checkbook, and my life.
[16]

Notable Births

** Everyone listed below was living last time I checked.

Al and Tipper Gore: VP of the United States and 2nd Lady, now divorced. [17]